Review: Fitbit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch

FitBit was the first company that managed to pull off wearable devices, at least for the general public. So it’s not a big surprise that the Blaze, one of its most sophisticated devices, has a lot of great features that will appeal to not only serious athletes but people who also just want to count their steps during the day.

The FitBit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch stands out as one of the best athletic devices you can buy without spending over $300. Even if you were willing to pay that much, you would still have a difficult time finding a better option.

We try to stay as objective as possible while writing these reviews, it’s impossible not to show our excitement for this product. Are there a couple problems with it? Yes, but they’re nothing compared to the positives. At this price point, you won’t anything better.

Top Features

The list of features included in the FitBit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch will easily match what you will find in the high-end wristbands. That includes your standard activity tracking features like:

How many steps you take during the day

How far you run

How many floors you climb (which is a surprising useful feature more watches offer now)

How many calories you burn during your workouts

Of course, this isn’t a typical activity tracker, so it comes with a few extras. For instance, you can tell it what kind of activity you plan to do. When you do that, it can track your perform better and give you more accurate information. That’s especially important during strenuous workouts since every minute counts during those.

It’s also nice that this watch will connect to your smartphone to give you more than just activity tracking. It will let you see who’s calling and let you check your text messages, which comes in handy when you’re in a meeting and you don’t want to offend people by checking your phone.

What’s Unique About the FitBit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch

There are several good features about this fitness watch. What really makes it unique, though, is that it will give you step-by-step instructions while you’re exercising. That’s a pretty obvious benefit for beginners. If you’re just starting to get in better shape, it really helps to have something tell you what to do. That’s essentially why people hire personal trainers. Except this smart activity trainer doesn’t charge you $100 an hour.

What’s a little surprising is that amateur athletes can also get a lot of benefit from this function. Just because you have been performing for several years doesn’t mean that you aren’t pushing yourself to the maximum at least a few times per month. You might be trying to go out for a longer run or trying to lift a heavier weight. At those times, it helps having something push you a little.

We’ve had people tell us that it has been exactly what they needed when they were pushing themselves to get over that last mile. When you reach that point, your brain doesn’t think in the regular way. That can make it difficult to make smart decisions. This wristwatch makes the decision for you.

FitBit Blaze Prices

The FitBit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch retails for about $200. Some times, you can find it on sale for slightly less, though, so take advantage of any deals that you find. We find that it’s easiest to locate deals online, so you may want to start your search there. A few sites will give you free shipping and handling, which will add to your savings.

Potential Drawbacks

Our tests haven’t revealed any serious problems with this version of the FitBit. A couple people find that it’s slightly too bulky for them, but that’s usually solved by simply switching to a different size. Unless you have a very small risk, it’s pretty simple to find an option that will fit you well. Just make sure you check the sizing chart before you purchase a FitBit Blaze.

Although we didn’t find any software issues, a few readers report that this version of the FitBit’s software occasionally malfunctions with some Samsung devices. It has been some time since we have heard about this issue, though, so hopefully one of the recent Android OS updates has solved it.

Conclusion

The FitBit Blaze keeps asserting itself as one of the best fitness watches that you can buy for under $300. It’s not only useful, but looks really nice, too. It’s definitely worthy of your attention.

At Tech Imperatives, we’re passionate about helping our readers learn about new technologies. We love reading and writing about the latest devices, so we have turned out interest into a useful resource that you can use to help you decide what types of consumer technology are right for you.

In addition to explaining general features included in products like smartphones, fitness trackers, and sleep wristbands, we give you specific details that will help you understand the pros and cons of each model.